Первые люди на Луне
Chapter 3 — The Building of the sphere
Well,whenallthesewindowsorblindsareshut,nolight,noheat,nogravitation,noradiantenergyofanysortwillgetattheinsideofthesphere,itwillflyonthroughspaceinastraightline,asyousay.Butopenawindow,imagineoneofthewindowsopen.Thenatonceanyheavybodythatchancestobeinthatdirectionwillattractus—”
Isattakingitin.
“Yousee?”hesaid.
“Oh,Isee.”
“Practicallyweshallbeabletotackaboutinspacejustaswewish.Getattractedbythisandthat.”
“Oh,yes.That’sclearenough.Only—”
“Well?”
“Idon’tquiteseewhatweshalldoitfor!It’sreallyonlyjumpingofftheworldandbackagain.”
“Surely!Forexample,onemightgotothemoon.”
“Andwhenonegotthere?Whatwouldyoufind?”
“Weshouldsee—Oh!considerthenewknowledge.”
“Isthereairthere?”
“Theremaybe.”
“It’safineidea,”Isaid,“butitstrikesmeasalargeorderallthesame.Themoon!I’dmuchrathertrysomesmallerthingsfirst.”
“They’reoutofthequestion,becauseoftheairdifficulty.”
“Whynotapplythatideaofspringblinds—Cavoriteblindsinstrongsteelcases—toliftingweights?”
“Itwouldn’twork,”heinsisted.“Afterall,togointoouterspaceisnotsomuchworse,ifatall,thanapolarexpedition.Mengoonpolarexpeditions.”
“Notbusinessmen.Andbesides,theygetpaidforpolarexpeditions.Andifanythinggoeswrongtherearereliefparties.Butthis—it’sjustfiringourselvesofftheworldfornothing.”
“Callitprospecting.”
“You’llhavetocallitthat....
